HOBOKEN—Two co-working spaces in Hoboken and Jersey City will receive a cumulative $731,550 in loans from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, EDA CEO Michele Brown announced Wednesday. The money is intended to fund acquisitions, improvements, and other activities associated with expansion of the spaces.
Co-working spaces allow entrepreneurs and small business owners to rent individual desks within a communal office. Comparatively cheap compared to the long-term leases required by most office buildings, the spaces are often favored by technology start-ups.
In Hoboken, Mission 50 Workspaces was approved for a $556,550 loan. The company hopes to expand from its current 3,000 square foot space to a 13,000 square foot facility near mass transit.
Mission 50 president Greg Dell’Aquila, the former head of the Hoboken Chamber of Commerce, said the state loan would fund “some combination of construction of space, furniture and fixtures and working capital.”
As the only co-working space in Hoboken, Mission 50 already boasts 300 individual members and a pipeline of 200 additional member companies.
In downtown Jersey City, co-working space Indiegrove received a $175,000 loan. With the state cash infusion, Indiegrove founder Zahra Amanpour plans to expand in his company’s current location on Newark Street.
Indiegrove has 135 members, of which more than 50 percent are from the tech industry.
“This funding will support the earliest stage New Jersey entrepreneurs and technology startups by partnering with three thriving co-working spaces in Hudson and Monmouth Counties,” said Brown in a statement. A co-working space in Asbury Park received an additional $240,000 loan.